Winters Charm
by Relocite
Summary: It's winter in Vale! Jenna's being moodier then usual, Picard is zoning out whilst pining for someone and Felix is... keeping quiet. [Shounen-ai] [PicardxFelix]


**Note:** This fanfiction is SHOUNEN-AI (Picard/Felix in this case) which, for those of you who don't know, is boyxboy relationships. If you don't like, please, for the sake of me, don't read! Okay? Brief, but it got the point across... I hope.

This is my first fiction that I've actually gotten the courage up to post, so please be gentle?

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything that has any connection to Golden Sun 1/2 (©Nintendo and Camelot), if I did, you'd very probably know. ^_^

--

**Winters Charm**

"Picard! Get back here right now!" Jenna's shrill voice could be heard throughout Vale on this early morning. It was the same routine, though... Jenna was sort of like the equivalent of a cockerel for the citizen's of Vale – Picard would wake up at an ungodly hour to take a walk and as soon as he got back in Jenna was sitting on her chair, laying the mother of all glares on the poor water adept. You see, with Jenna's element being Mars she wasn't really that keen on cold weather, and seeing it was by now the middle of winter, Vale was at its coldest and that meant that Jenna was at her meanest. She didn't want _any_ cold air getting into her lovely, warm home and if any did then she'd track down the person who caused it and do all in her power to make sure they got their just deserts.

"I would go back if I knew that I wasn't going to get hurt!" Picard called back to the trembling fire adept, hiding behind a rather large snow covered boulder that had been very well placed in his opinion.

"I'm not going to _hurt_ you, Picard... I'm merely going to make your life a living hell." Jenna said sweetly, holding her mace loosely in her hand, her smile as sweet as her tone.

"Same difference..." The adept muttered, glaring at the girl from behind the rock. 

Don't get him wrong, it wasn't like he was a wimp, but he knew that even the strongest person ever known to man wouldn't mess with a homicidal Jenna, not even if they were given all the riches in the world to do so.

"It is not!! Now, get back in!" The fire adept was glaring yet again, her sweet expression now long gone. The good thing about the cold weather is that Jenna wouldn't take a step outside unless she absolutely had to, and she knew that she could easily kill Picard when it was warmer, she just needed someone to save her from boredom.

"No way! Would you go back to a homicidal maniac?" Picard paused after he spoke. He could literally feel Jenna's glare boring through the boulder by now, and he knew that he really should've quit while he was ahead... or behind in this case.

"Excuse me!? Are you calling me a homicidal maniac!? I'm not even a maniac, let alone homicidal! You're the one who's a maniac! You don't see me waking up at about 4 in the morning just for a 2 hour walk in the _freezing cold_!" Jenna was growling now, she was about ready to pounce and she would have long ago if it weren't for the dratted weather.

She looked even madder when she didn't get an answer. "PICARD!!!"

Picard had gone while Jenna was mid-rant, heading back for the currently frozen over river. He figured the fire adept would have cooled down (if you excuse the slight pun) by the time he was back, which wouldn't be any time soon hopefully. He smiled as various passers-by greeted him cheerfully - that's what he liked so much about Vale; it reminded him slightly of home. Granted, no-one was 500 years of age or older and they didn't all have blue hair, but they all knew each other, were friendly and some of them were quite wise, and that's also what made him decide to stay in Vale... along with one other thing, but that wasn't important.

He was soon sat down by the river, staring at his reflection blankly in hope that it may give him some idea of what he could do that didn't involve having to go within a 50-mile radius of Jenna. He _could_ stare at the clouds and go into la-la land, but if he did that he'd probably end up getting buried under the snow again... his Djinni were far more trouble then they were worth, last winter they all piled snow on top of him in hope that he'd play with them, but he ended up with a horrible flu for 2 weeks solid. He shuddered at that memory, remembering what it was like to have a nose that was about as bad as Gaia Falls and how many tissues he ended up having to clean up. Not nice. The only good thing about it all was how Felix had visited him nearly every day to bring some fresh home-made soup and, if he was lucky, some more tissues.

"Picard? Can you hear me? Felix to Picard..." The earth adept that Picard was currently thinking about was now sat next to him, waving his gloved hand in front of Picard's glazed-over eyes. 

"Huh...?" The lemurian blinked a couple of times, looking over to Felix and grinning sheepishly. "Yes, I can hear you..." He mumbled, looking as if he'd just woken up.

"Are you okay? You seem a little distant." Felix looked quite concerned now, he had spent over 10 minutes trying to get Picard's attention and he was starting to wonder if the water adept had been out too long and frozen.

"Just bored, trying to think of something to do that will keep me out of the house." Picard sighed heavily, leaning forward and putting his head in his hands, staring at the still torn down house that was on the other side of the river. He never did find out who used to live there...

"Why would you want to be out? It's freezing cold!" The brunette frowned a little, following Picard's gaze to the house and grimacing, looking back to the blue haired man quickly.

"The same reason you're out." Picard smirked as he looked back to Felix. He knew the other man was just as scared of Jenna as the next person, and that's saying something. He's her older brother; she should be scared of him! Then again, even Kraden is slightly frightened of her and only Iris knows how old _he_ is.

"I'm out because Jenna's steamed... no thanks to _someone_." Felix glared at Picard, obviously mocking the lemurian. But it was true; she was so mad he could swear he saw steam coming out from her ears, but that just may have been condensation playing its part in the whole winter scenario.

"If I didn't have my morning walk then I'd be just as mad as her! Would you rather have two short tempered adepts living in the same house as you or one?" The other man countered, glaring right back at Felix.

"I wouldn't mind one as long as it was you because I know you wouldn't even _dream_ of hurting me."

"I wouldn't bet on that if I were you, Felix."

"Well, you're not me, are you?"

"Are you actually willing to bet on that?"

"Sounds like I am."

"What are we betting, then?" Picard smirked as he leant back a little, folding his arms loosely over his chest. Felix had no idea what he was getting himself into.

"Five hundred and forty coins." Felix said with a grin, getting up from his current spot along with Picard. He held out his hand and raised an eyebrow, "Is it a deal?"

Picard nodded and took the other man's hand, giving it one hard shake, "I hope you know that just because you're my friend doesn't mean that I'm going to go any easier on you."

"I do, and it's the same for you." Felix mumbled, keeping hold of Picard's hand a little. The two soon found that they were holding hands that little too long and quickly let go, laughing awkwardly and turning away from each other.

"In 10 minutes we shall meet outside Kraden's cottage and then we'll duel." Felix said sternly, making Picard roll his eyes heavenwards. Even though it had been almost 2 years since their journey had ended, Felix still thought he was the leader and seemed to make all the decisions for everyone else. Though this would be helpful for someone who couldn't make their mind up, it got right on Picard's nerves – he was undoubtedly older then the Venus adept and he should at least be able to have _some_ say in where they met, what they did and the like. But while Picard was thinking this Felix had already left to get himself prepared.

"...I left my weapon at Jenna's." The Mercury adept immediately groaned and hit his forehead with his hand, letting it slowly trail down his face. He could be sure Felix had done that on purpose. "I'm definitely not going to take it easy on you." The Mercury adept muttered as he made his way back to Jenna's.

--

"Well, well... if it isn't Picard. Here to admit defeat?" Jenna smirked as she saw Picard walk in, the water adept soon resembling a deer caught in headlights as he stopped mid-step, looking to Jenna with a rather awkward grin planted on his face.

"No, actually... I'm just here to collect my sword and then I'll be gone again." Picard said coolly, trying not to let Jenna know he was nervous, she would've won otherwise and she probably wouldn't shut up about it for... well, as long as it took before Picard eventually came to her, grovelling and begging for forgiveness.

"Sword? Why on earth do you need your sword?" The Mars adept now looked more curious then vengeful. Maybe this would make her forget the incident earlier in the morning? That'd be a miracle, but then again, anything's possible.

"I'm going to be duelling your brother. He seems to think that I'm unable to hurt him." The man replied, slowly making his way to the stairs. He wanted to avoid this conversation at all costs – knowing Jenna, she'd pry further until she was completely satisfied with the answer given, so he'd have to end up telling her about the 'having two mad adepts' thing which very probably wouldn't bode well with her.

"Ooh. I'm coming along, then! I haven't seen a good fight in ages! Have you two got a bet?" Jenna's face lit up considerably, the fact of her hating cold weather seeming to have washed away.

"Yes... five hundred and forty coins." He muttered, quickly running up into his room, taking his sword from under his unmade bed and swerving it around a little.

"Oh my! You two really do know how to keep things interesting! You've got to let me join in on this bet. I'll put fifty coins on my brother." Jenna's face was still as cheerful as ever as Picard arrived back downstairs. The water adept rolled his eyes for the second time that morning; trust Jenna to take her brothers side of things, but it's her loss, even if Picard did mention that Felix has near to no chance of beating him it wouldn't change the girls mind.

"As you wish." He said flatly, walking out of the home only to get pulled back in by Jenna and getting the fifty coins stuffed in his hand.

"If Felix wins you have to give those to him and then me and him will share the winnings, if you win then you keep them." Jenna said sternly, disappearing into the other room for a few minutes before coming back in with a rather large and funny-looking cloak on.

"Very... fetching, Jenna." Picard choked out, trying not to laugh as the hood went right over the Mars adepts head. It was obviously far too large for her, but she didn't seem to care.

"It is, isn't it? It'll keep me lovely and warm while you both fight!" She said happily, lifting the hood up so she could see and holding the rest of the thick material close as she walked out of the house with Picard in tow. "Uh... Picard?"

"Yes?"

"...Where are we meeting him?"

--

"What's taking him so long?" Felix whined quietly, pacing back and forth in front of Kraden's house. The old man knew the two were going to have a duel, and he made a good decision just to stay out of it and continue with his projects, it's only if he heard any screams of completely agonising pain he would stand to attention and run out.

"For the last time, Jenna, I'm not going to kill Felix, nor am I going to try and freeze him so I can win." Picard's calm voice could be heard not too far off, making Felix smile a little. Jenna always had a habit of annoying Picard, she just did it for fun, but deep down she really loved him like a brother of sorts.

"You better not, that's my job." She glared at Picard one more time before she ran over to Felix. "I've got your back! I bet fifty coins on you." She said happily, patting her brothers back a little harder then intended, causing him to wince a little.

"Oh... great. Glad to know you have a lot of faith in me, Jenna..." He mumbled, edging away from her and walking over to Picard.  

Picard in the mean time, was smirking quite smugly as he figured something out – if Felix lost to him then Jenna, being Jenna, would lose her temper with him and then all hell would break loose... and she'd forget about the incident. 

"Picard! You're doing it again!!" Picard blinked slowly, looking down to the Venus adept who was currently pouting/glaring, obviously not liking the fact the Mercury adept seemed to be ignoring him.

"Sorry. Are you ready or not?" He mumbled taking a step back as Felix drew his sword.

"I've spent the past few seconds asking you the same thing." The other man snapped, glaring yet again as Picard drew his sword also.

**

TBC

**

Right! I know the first chapter may seem rather... short? I don't know if that's the right word to use, but I sort of wanted to keep it so that I had more then one chapter in the story.

Next chapter probably won't have a fight scene because I am no good at them, I haven't had first-hand experience in any sort of fight apart from ones with my little brother, and even they are rather boring. ^^;

Please, review! It's my first fanfiction and I want to know what I can improve on, what I'm good at and such... (In other words: constructive criticism is A-OK!)

[Relocite.]

[[26/01/03]]


End file.
